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Tuesday, 8 August 2017

An update on Larsen C and denial from Radio NZ

This
is a very good summing-up of climate change, most specifically the
calving of the iceberg off Larsen C in Antarctica.

Much
of this excellent material comes from CCTV Chinese TV.
Meanwhile
Radio NZ,whom I increasingly see as the purveyers of the most
insidious climate change denial (forget the print media or TV!).
I
would like to rub the noses of some of the editors and presenters of
RNZ and rub their noses in this report – or perhaps in their own
bullshit.

New
Update On A Trillion Ton Giant Iceberg That Broke off Antarctica!
ARCTIC ICE MELTING FAST

****

This is what I wrote a few weeks ago on RNZ's coverage of this. Since then I have complained and after receiving their weasel reply am contemplating taking the complaint to the top - no doubt a futile endeavour.

What I noticed was that they gave prominance to a Prof Helen Fricker, from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who emphasised (and this could really have been their headline) thatTHIS IS NOTHING TO DO WITH CLIMATE CHANGE.

The
point with this is that there indeed very important contrary voices
such as glaciologist, Dr. Eric Rignot.

Under
its broadcasting standards Radio NZ is supposed to reflect both sides
of the argument. It has totally failed to do this and has only
reported one side of the argument providing the false impression that
it is business-as-usual when it comes to the Antarctic.

We
are told that calving happens all the time, that this is “normal”
- an in this regard I could hardly believe my ears when the Arctic
was mentioned.

This
was not verging on but has crossed the line into climate change
denial propaganda.

Even the print media gave a more honest account that reflected the view that this is serious and reflects dangerous changes in the Antarctica

Earlier
in the year I exchanged correspondence with Radio New Zealand 's then science producer, Veronika Meduna, and shared with her material on the latest
findings about the Arctic methane emergency.

Climate
change denial, or rather abrupt climate change denial is a
constant in RNZ’s coverage of climate change.

A
couple of years back I had an email exchange with science reporter,
Veronica Meduna. I sent her references to articles about what is
happening in the northeren hemisphere, especially with regard to
positiuve feedbacks and the clathrate gun.

She
made it quite clear that she had read this material and understood
it.

She
also shared with me that it was Radio NewZealand's editorial
policy not to cover the issue unless it had a local "New
Zealand" slant to it.

She
also indicated, expressed in Aesopian language, that she understood
that it was hard to combine this "local" policy with
something that is of a global nature.

She
also said that the release of the IPCC report in March would provide
an opportunity to 'cover the issue'.

It wasn't really worthwhile waiting for for this was part of what she came up with

Sea
level rise is expected to reach about half a metre by the end of the
century under low-emission scenarios, but
Dr Reisinger says even that will be a
challenge for New Zealand,
with most of our cities and infrastructure built on flood plains and
near river mouths.

"There
is scope to adapt but it would require what we call
transformative adaptation, which simply means giving up protecting
everything but deciding that some areas cannot be protected and we
have to think about shifting some communities away from the coast
over time. And that would mean major social upheaval."

However,
there will be some benefits from climate change for New
Zealand. Warmer
winters will mean lower heating bills and might reduce winter
illnesses, forest growth is expected to increase, and some parts of
New Zealand can expect stronger spring pasture growth.

At the time I commented:"This
is from someone who has stated in writing that they have read (and
presumably understood) scientific material on methane emissions and
the consequences for the planet!!

"Quite
how you can acknowledge that we have catastrophic climate change and
then go on to talk of "a challenge for New Zealand" and
then produce in the next paragraph "however,
there will be some benefits from climate change for New Zealand"
- is
quite beyond me.

"I
can only repeat:

"....knowing
something to be true but being complicit in hiding the truth is
pretty high in the list of journalistic sins....."Either way, Radio New Zealand represents a peculiar form of liberal climate change denial"

Subsequent
to that I have had words with RNZ about their distortion of the facts
surrounding last year’s el-Nino drought

Getting back to the Antarctica a few weeks ago Kathryn Ryan of Nine-to-Noon did a shamelful inteview with a Dunedin scientist, Prof. Pat Langhorne saying that Antarctic ice was not melting contradicting a whole season’s stories that told the opposite story

Kathryn
Ryan talks to the University of Otago's sea-ice expert Professor Pat
Langhorne. Sea-ice physics is a relatively new discipline, and there
are many important questions that are still unanswered, such as: why
is Antarctic sea ice not decreasing like Arctic sea
ice? The answers to these questions are believed to be crucial to
understanding the effects climate change is having on different parts
of the continent.

I
do not see any reason why Radio NZ should be allowed to get away with
its propaganda and so intend to make a complaint to the Broadcasting
Standards Authority
on the grounds that they have only presented one side of the story.

I
would encourage others to do the same if this matters to you.

P.S. This
was followed up with the following interview by Kathryn Ryan